In an article on the use of revenues from California’s cap-and-trade program to pay for efforts to provide clean water, Rachel Becker of CalMatters spoke with Near Zero’s Danny Cullenward.

“Everybody has an incentive to describe their project as being related to greenhouse gas reduction,” says Danny Cullenward, policy director at climate change think-tank Near Zero and member of the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee. But when it comes to evaluating their effects, he said, “There’s not a lot of rigor, and no independent review.”

He points to the 25 percent yearly allocation for the controversial high-speed rail project, which, once completed, will need to be cheap enough to draw people away from emissions-intensive air travel. “There are a lot of contingencies that have to come true for that to be a major climate reduction,” Cullenward said.